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Published: January 25th 2012
We are sitting in an airport hotel room in Salt Lake City, Utah, waiting for a pizza delivery. (Sigh!) We should still be in our lovely log cabin on Powder Mountain but we fly home tomorrow and it is blizzarding in the mountains. We, and the neighbours who were responsible for getting us and our belongings on and off the mountain by snowmobile got a bit nervous about our planned 7.45am shuttle pick up, in a snow storm. So today we had to bid an early adieu to our home of a week on Powder Mountain.
When we arrived in Utah 8 days ago, everyone was complaining about the lousy winter and lack of snow. They aren't complaining anymore. Powder Mountain has had several feet of fresh powder snow fall over the last few days and fortunately for us, we got to experience it first hand.
Our Utah experience is thus beginning and ending with a night in Salt Lake City, which has not impressed us so far. The Mormon centre of town (which interestingly seems to have been rebranded LDS church in the media here) is an impressive and imposing collection of temples and buildings, but there is
4 Minute Gym workouts -seriously?
Fast workouts for after your fast food?a very uncomfortable feeling that you are being assessed for potential recruitment by the volunteer guides when in the church owned space, so I put my "Don't mess with me" face on and we stride through.
Walking around Salt Lake City's downtown streets on a Friday afternoon was another odd experience. The streets are empty. Barely any shops, no people, an absence of window displays. It feels sterile and unwelcoming. We keep walking block after block in the hope of coming upon some "life" but walk back to our hotel pretty disappointed. There is one street with a few retro antique shops which have some appeal and we laugh when we stroll past the
Quick Gym Utah - which promises 4 minute workouts!!! But o
verall it is not at all what we expect of a major American city. Presumably its all happening here in the burbs???
The next morning, after a generous Embassy Suites cooked breakfast we walk the 8 or so blocks to Smiths Supermarket to shop for the next week. We had imagined we could catch a taxi back to the hotel, but none are visible, so we push the trolley back the 2 miles, unload
and then I walk it back to the supermarket. By the time I return, the driver has arrived with our minivan and we load up and drive the 1and a 1/4 hr trip to Powder Mountain. We had also hoped to pick up some wine, but discover that liquor of any sort (other than low strength beer) is pretty hard to come by in Utah. Looks like the single bottle of wine in our bags will have to last! The Mormon influence is every where in this city and as we talk with the shuttle company owner who is driving us today, he (an ex Mormon) indicates they are a pretty insular, racist and homophobic group. Monday is Martin Luther King day here in the USA and Utah was apparently the last state to formally recognise the public holiday and they still do not give it as a day off to their public servants.
Powder Mountain is one of America's least known ski resorts and we only found out about it through a blog we read online when investigating ski destinations in the US. It appealed to us for a number of reasons - reputedly America's best powder snow,
a low scale family owned resort with no apres ski scene, cheaper lift ticket prices and a great mix of long runs. The icing on the cake was the lovely ski in/ski out log cabin we found to rent on vrbo.com. Mindi and John's three bedroom cabin is a warm and welcoming retreat from the cold and the snow and we settle in very quickly. When we arrive we also understand one of the other unique features of this particular resort. It is one of the very few ski resorts situated at the top of the mountain - not the bottom. So most of your skiing is done below the lodge and carpark, not above it.
Mindi and John's friend and neighbour Jennifer meets us at the ski shop and we load our suitcases, backpacks and bags of groceries onto the snowmobile sled while she does multiple trips to the cabin and we get fitted for our ski's at Daves shop. This is the best rental deal we have ever heard of. We are each given our boots, skis and poles and told that the rental is on a honour system. When we bring them back we just need
to tell them how many days or half days we have skied and we pay for what we use. If we have a day off the ski's we don't pay! As Piper succumbs to a very nasty cold that night, he at least feels pleased that he is not costing us money, while staying home.
Our first day out on the slopes is not good. We buy 3 half day (12nn to 9pm) tickets for $50 each and ski down to the Timberline lift. It is a triple chair, but we are pretty surprised there is no safety bar installed. The weather is bitterly cold - way, way below freezing with arctic like winds. Not pleasant at all. When we exit the lift we plan to take the lovely long cruisy "3 Mile" trail that travereses the mountain, but upon checking the way, learn that the Hidden Lake quad chair that operates from the bottom of that run has just stopped operating due to the high winds, so most of the mountain is now inacessible. We head back to the lodge/ticket office and I ask for a credit (which I am given without argument) and Taylor and Michael catch
the bus to the Sundown lift to try some of the runs over on that more sheltered side. This is also the area where you can do night skiing.
We try again the next day with more success - the lifts are working and I really enjoy the "3 Mile" run. But it is still unbelievably cold. I leave Michael and Taylor to it and cruise the lovely Lodge trail home. They are really starting to enjoy and explore the mountain and its enormous numbers of long runs and skiable terrain but the biting wind and snow is really taking the edge off our fun.
Day three we give it another go. And this time it is so much better. It is not snowing and the wind is less ferocious and the magic of this place begins to reveal itself. There is something really unstructured and free about Powder Mountain. We are all in quite different levels with our skiing, with Michael being very proficient, me being a serial snow plough skier and Taylor and Piper getting better and more adventurous each time they go out. It is a real shame that Piper is still not well enough
to hit the slopes - he would be loving this mountain. I feel very comfortable doing some of these long green runs on my own, meeting the boys at the chair after they have tried different ways down and it is great to see Taylor's confidence improving each day.
The next day reverts to more wind and snow and I beg off, just walking down to the ticket office to buy the tickets, while Michael and Taylor brave the conditions. There is quite a lot of fresh powder and they really relish skiing in it. Piper and I stay warm and cozy in the cabin while they go at it. But by mid afternoon a serious snow storm has arrived, there is zero visibility and the mountain is officially closed. A very, very rare event. Michael and Taylor finally make it home exhausted and collapse in the thick powder at our front door. The snow storm continues for the next 36 hours and in that time more than 2 feet of snow falls. The whole mountain is transformed -and we can't believe there are people who are out skiing in this. We enjoy our time out watching DVD's and
reading but are also desperate for the weather to clear so we can get back out there!
Piper is still not well enough to be out in the cold, so we head out without him again and discover how much things have changed in the past couple of days. How great would this place be in the sunshine! We can only wish! Fortunately on our last full day, our wish is granted. Piper is finally able to join us and we enjoy several hours of fantastic powder skiing together on the trails. Michael and Taylor even stay behind for some very exciting night skiing. We have a slim hope that we can do a morning session on Saturday before our scheduled late afternoon pck up, but the forecast is not promising, so we are ecstatic just to have had this one amazing day.
And that brings us back to today - Saturday. The house phone rings about 8am and it is Jennifer, our friendly snowmobile driver. She asks us to find out how early the shuttle can come and get us, as she and her husband believe 4.30pm is no longer a good idea. Another foot of snow
is expected to fall today and the winds are forecast for 55 to 60 miles per hr! Astoundingly, the carpark is soon full and there are loads of skiiers hitting the slopes. Clearly a lot more serious about this sport than us!
When we call the shuttle guys, they say they cannot get anyone to get us earlier than planned. But after Brian speaks to them, and stresses the potential seriousness of the situation, we soon get a call back saying they will be there at 11.30am. So much for a leisurely departure. We scramble to have breakfast, shower, pack and get ready. Brian arrives with the snowmobile to take our bags down to store in their car and we learn that there has been an accident - a car ran into the Powder Mountain bus - and the road up the mountain is now closed. After numerous phone calls to and from our driver and Powder Mountain staff, he loads three of us and our ski's onto the sled and I sit behind him on the snowmobile as we zoom down the mountain. Unfortunately the snow blasting in our faces makes it a little difficult to enjoy the
experience, which otherwise is quite fun. But we return our ski's, wait for the road to reopen (from the warmth of the ski shop) and before we know it our Powder Mountain experience is over.
This year is the 40th anniversary of Powder Mountain ski resort and during our stay we watch a DVD about the history of the place. It is owned by a local man who is also a Doctor in nearby Ogden. Somehow he made this resort while studying (at age 41) to be a Doctor. The land was bought by his cattle farming father, over many years and it still feels like a family concern. Everyone is very friendly, down to earth and helpful. This is so different from the impersonal, overpriced ski resorts you normally find. It may not be ritzy but that suits us just fine.
Our consensus: this is a fantastic place to ski and stay - but maybe for us, skiing here in spring would be better. A little bit more sunshine and less wind would have made it perfect!!! But you cannot beat this snow. There
is a reason it is called
Powder Mountain!!!
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Chris and Nikki
Chris
Fantastic picture.